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Historical Designer Flow Chart

Design / Fashion

Is fashion a professionally incestuous industry? With designers getting shuffled around on a season-to-season basis, ‘traded’ much like free agent athletes, the ebb and flow of the fashion-house-creative-director relationship is getting harder and harder to follow. But is this an entirely new phenomenon, perpetuated by pressure and increasingly high financial stakes? Our historical designer flow chart is here to shed some light on the situation. Here are a few notable takeaways…

Posted January 30th, 2019 By Colby Mugrabi

What does it mean to be a ‘star designer’ today? Certainly if the determining factor is based on sheer talent, then star designers have existed since the days of Charles Frederick Worth, who founded the world’s first true couture house, ‘The House of Worth’ in 1858. Sadly, or perhaps not, the link between ‘star’ and ‘designer’ in 2019 lies in a cocktail of factors, based not solely on talent and ability to modernize house codes, but on celebrity, accessibility, and most importantly, commerciality. This industry trifecta determines the success and staying power of a creative director today, shedding light on perhaps the most substantial difference that contemporary designers face to those that existed a century, or ever decades ago – a formidable distinction that has unequivocally drained the beauty and artistry out of a majority of historical fashion brands.

Furthermore, today’s industry has made it progressively more difficult – and expensive – for a designer to start his or her own fashion house. Omitting everything that comes after a designer’s first show – production, sales, marketing, PR, etc. – the investment alone needed to set up an atelier and produce enough samples to show even one collection has made it nearly impossible for the new guard to launch a namesake brand; making this ‘free agent’ phenomenon increasingly auspicious in the eyes of a young designer yearning to one day be at the helm of an already established house; i.e. the Chanel’s and Dior’s of the world.

As history shows, the rapid succession of creative directors at fashion houses began around the late 1980s and early 90s, at which time ‘house founders’ bid adieu to their namesake labels, and fashion conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering began heavily investing in undervalued brands, growing them into modern day fashion behemoths. With this abrupt industry shift, creative directors began to move houses almost seasonally, showing no true loyalty to a brand they didn’t help create, serving merely as a ripple in time of a house’s history. Sure, there are certainly exceptions to this phenomenon, many could rightfully argue that Phoebe Philo created the Céline of the 21st century, but just seasons after her departure, the brand is now under the helm of French designer Hedi Slimane, with a new logo, image, aesthetic, and an entirely new customer.

Who’s to say that these trends won't eventually revert, or perhaps become even more exasperated; either way, the Minnie Muse designer flow chart is here to help quantify the never-ending changes throughout the history of fashion.